The Impossible Dream Ends for South Africa with a 2-1 Victory over France

South Africa's Bafana Bafana soccer team is out of the World Cup but fans celebrated victory over France on Monday evening. South Africa is the first host country to be knocked out of the World Cup in the first round, but football fans in Johannesburg say the country's first win against France has given them reason to celebrate. Despite the outcome, many said they were now confident that the standard of football here would improve because the World Cup had been played in Africa.

With their boys gone, the country's focus turns to making sure the second half of the tournament goes off as well as the first. Officials estimate 432,000 fans have traveled to South Africa for the World Cup, much higher than the 350,000 predicted before it began. (FIFA originally forecast 450,000 visitors but revised that number down because of security concerns and cost.) An event that was supposed to be riddled with theft, violence, and logistical disasters hasn't been. Minor problems pop up here and there, but so far South Africa's World Cup is a success.

Our attention now turns to the fortunes of the USA team. We will be in attendance on Wednesday, June 23rd, when USA meets Algeria. This is a high stakes game, and a win will propel the USA team to the next round.